Canberra’s 91st public school, opening next year, honours Shirley Smith, a Wiradjuri woman and prominent activist, ACT education minister Yvette Berry announced.
Shirley Smith High School is being built in Kenny, Gungahlin, and will open in 2024. The name was chosen after the government consulted ACT Placenames, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, and the United Ngunnawal Elders Council.
Shirley Coleen Smith AM MBE (‘Mum Shirl’, born Shirley Perry) was born near Cowra, NSW, in 1921. Her family moved to Sydney in the mid-1930s, and soon after, she began to visit and support Aboriginal people in jail. She assisted Aboriginal people facing criminal charges in the courts, and supported children placed in her care to regain health and focus and find their families.
Shirley Smith was a founding member of many important community services in Redfern, including the Aboriginal Medical Service, Aboriginal Legal Service, the Aboriginal Housing Company, and the Aboriginal Children’s Service. She was involved in the establishment of the Foundation for Aboriginal Affairs and in ongoing activism for land rights for Aboriginal people. Shirley Smith’s advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people influenced other communities to establish similar services. She died in 1998.
Shirley Smith High School will cater for up to 800 year 7 to 10 students and provide “high quality general and specialist learning environments”, Ms Berry said. The school will be headed by experienced ACT school principal Rebecca Pearce.
“The construction of the school is well advanced, and I look forward to seeing the first students attending the school next year,” Ms Berry said.
The Education Directorate will run a community consultation on options for the school’s logo and uniform.
